Microchip cat door Jan 30, 2012
It amazes me that there's a locking cat door that only opens when it recognizes a specific cat's flesh-embedded microchip, yet I still have to fumble around in the dark to insert a fancy metal key into an inexplicably difficult door lock just to get inside my house. #products
Cubeicals wine rack (2) Jan 3, 2012
A few months ago we got some of those ClosetMaid Cubeicals to store stuff in our kitchen.  One of the items we like to store in our kitchen is wine.  But typical wine racks take up space, and space is something our kitchen conveniently lacks.  So we took to storing our wine upright, in direct sunlight, on top of the Cubeical, which violates several rules of wine-drinking.  So naturally I figured, "Surely someone on the internet has made a wine rack that fits in this widely available cubical storage system."  Naturally, I was wrong.  Consequently, I became that person. 

[gallery /img/2012/01/wine-rack-1.png:::/img/2012/01/wine-rack-1-150x150.png:::I'm an engineer, so it all started with scribbles in a notebook during boring meetings.  Of course I used graph paper.:::/img/2012/01/wine-rack-2.png:::/img/2012/01/wine-rack-2-150x150.png:::From there it went into a variety of 3D computer models.  How else was I supposed to visualize things and make sure everything fit perfectly?:::/img/2012/01/wine-rack-3.png:::/img/2012/01/wine-rack-3-150x150.png:::Then it came down to selecting a design that could actually be manufactured using lumber bought at a real lumber store.:::/img/2012/01/wine-rack-4.jpg:::/img/2012/01/wine-rack-4-150x150.jpg:::Building it was fairly easy from that point due to all the thinking and drawing done up front.:::/img/2012/01/wine-rack-5.jpg:::/img/2012/01/wine-rack-5-150x150.jpg:::The final assembled product fit perfectly and performed admirably.  But some might say it was a little ugly.:::/img/2012/01/wine-rack-6.jpg:::/img/2012/01/wine-rack-6-150x150.jpg:::Some black paint (and some missing bottles) later, and we have a wine rack.:::]#products
Whole house DVR Oct 31, 2011
I keep seeing commercials for this service offered by DirecTV that lets you play a recorded show in one room, pause, then restart in another room.  I don't know what it is about this idea, but it's completely unappealing to me.  I just can't imagine a person signing up for DirecTV in order to get this feature.  Maybe it's just me; I only have one TV.  But even if I had many TVs in many rooms of my spacious house, I can't see why I'd want to pause something in one room and start playing it in another.  This advertisement is lost on me. #products
SharkBite (2) Oct 17, 2011
One thing I didn't realize I signed up for when I bought a house was that at least once a year I'd have to replace some sort of leaky plumbing fixture under a sink or toilet, simply because metal tends to disintegrate over time when in the presence of water.  Any old person would say, "How didn't you know that?"  To which I would respond, "Shut up, old person."  So this past weekend as I was visiting my local hardware store to replace some leaky valves, one of the sales guys recommended SharkBite fittings.  I was skeptical at first because they cost a little more and I never trust sales people.  But I got home, unsoldered the old valves and smoothed the pipes, then simply slid the SharkBite valves into place.  No soldering, no sealing, no nothing.  This was without question the easiest, most successful plumbing experience I've had in my brief though troubled career as a homeowner. #products
Airblade (2) Jul 5, 2011
I had my first experience with a Dyson Airblade this past weekend, and quite simply, it was thrilling.  It's just a fancy gadget that dries your hands in a public bathroom.  But unlike a standard blower or even the XLerator, it creates a sheet of moving air that you pass your hands through.  It feels so stupid to be amazed by things like this, but thankfully it was a single-person bathroom, so I was able to express my amazement in private. #products
Acrylic vs. mineral watch face (2) Apr 11, 2011
I bought a new watch recently, and I was disappointed when it got scratched after a day or so.  It turns out it has an acrylic crystal face, which Amazon says is "made up of plastic composite that is generally less expensive and less durable than a sapphire or a mineral crystal."  My old watch (same brand, same price) has a mineral crystal face, which "is made from what is essentially a form of glass [and is] more scratch resistant than acrylic."  I've had my old watch for about 8 years, and the steel body is dented and worn, but the mineral face is as good as new. #products
Nonstick (3) Mar 1, 2011
My nonstick frying pan got all scratched up, and I wasn't completely comfortable with the idea of welcoming Teflon particles into my body, not that I have any data to suggest they're entirely bad for me.  So I alternated between a cast iron pan and a stainless steel pan for a while, hoping I would get used to one or the other.  I read that cast iron needs to be seasoned and can't be scrubbed clean, but no matter what ridiculous and unclean things I tried, I couldn't get anything to work without burning everything to the bottom of the pan.  Stainless steel is supposedly good with high heat -- or maybe it's low heat; I tried both -- but again, I couldn't get anything to work without setting off my smoke alarm.  After one final fateful experience of scraping burnt meatballs off one of the pans, I came to a realization:  My mental health is more important than my perceived physical health.  I will gladly welcome all kinds of potentially harmful products into my body, provided I can enjoy the benefits of cooking food without burning things and creating a mess.  So I went to the store and bought some nonstick cookware, and the quality of my life has improved measurably.  It turns out cookware is something I can control. #products
Unitool Feb 23, 2011
I had an apple slicer on my desk at work and one of my co-workers asked, "Why do you have an apple slicer on your desk?"  This is what's known as a "dumb question," because an apple slicer performs one function, and one function alone:  Slicing whole apples (technically it cores them as well, but it's essentially the same thing).  An apple slicer is a great example of what can be called a "unitool" which, as opposed to a multitool (one tool that performs many functions) or a polytool (one tool made up of many tools that all perform the same function), does one thing and does it well.  Another co-worker walked by my desk and commented how a unitool (or "unitasker" as he called it) is pretty uncommon because of the abundance of multitools, and also unnecessary in that the same function can be achieved with a simpler tool like a knife.  While these are valid arguments, I think it's worth the trouble of carting around a tool that's only good for one thing, simply because it performs that function in the best possible way.  Function over form. #products
Staples eco-friendly notebooks Dec 14, 2010
I've been using a Staples eco-friendly notebook (there are more designs in-store) for the past several months, and I'm a huge fan.  I'm the type of person who's pretty skeptical of eco-things, but if it's a good product for a good price, I'll use it.  Its eco-friendliness comes from the fact that it was made using sugarcane plant fiber waste, which is cool because (a) they're using a part of the product that's generally not very useful, and (b) it has something to do with sugar, of which I'm also a huge fan.  If only it was edible. #products
Expanding foam happiness Dec 14, 2010
I just bought some of these Hearos expanding foam ear plugs (via Slate) to drown out the background noise at work, and simply put, they're heavenly.  As soon as one of my co-workers starts talking too close to my circle of self-imposed sensory deprivation, I just pop in these ear plugs and listen to what I would assume to be blood flowing through my brain.  But the best part is the 30 or so seconds it takes for the foam to fully expand, as all the various noises, bodily functions, and mind-numbingly stupid conversations disappear into thin air.  It's magical. #products